Tuesday, July 19, 2011

So today I called the NCCC offices to see about the updates on my clearance forms. I was informed that my legal cleared on the 6th and my medical cleared on the 11th! I'm not surprised that they were cleared of course, but I am surprised that they were cleared so quickly. Those forms arrived in the mail over there on the 5th. I've heard that it can take months to clear those forms. I'm glad that things went smoothly though (hopefully my luck will continue into acceptances!) Now that I'm all cleared, the only thing left to do is wait. Acceptances start the first week of September i believe, and then people are periodically accepted in the following days all the way up to when training starts in the first week of February. There's three campuses opened this winter: one in Iowa, one in Maryland, and another in Mississippi. All of those places sound interesting to me, yes, even Iowa. It's always good to experience something new. If you ever decide that you want to apply for Americorps NCCC (which I definitely reccommend if community service is your thing) remember that you will have to be very patient, because you could be waiting almost a year before you even hear about getting accepted if you do get accepted. I'm hoping that since I applied to the Winter term, I'll have a better chance of getting in, but I have absolutely no idea, and I don't want to jinx anything! So right now it's just waiting, waiting, and waiting some more. And hopefully the next time I post, it'll be something good! So until then......

Monday, July 11, 2011

So I won't know if I get into Americorps NCCC until the first week of September-the first week of February. Selection for Americorps NCCC is random and if i don't get any acceptance in the first week of September there's still a chance i could get accepted all the way up to the day training starts as people sometimes end up dropping out of the program because of other commitments come up, so other people are selected to fill those spots. So until then I must wait patiently. I feel i have exausted all the search engines searching for other blogs of those who have been through or are going through the NCCC program. Before I get into the reasons I want to be involved with the Americorps NCCC program, here's a description of what the program is:
"AmeriCorps NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps) is a 10-month residential, team-based, national service program that engages young adults ages 18 to 24 in full-time service. Operated directly by the Corporation for National and Community Service, AmeriCorps NCCC is part of a national network of service programs that help local communities address their compelling needs."
For more info visit americorps.gov!

Now onto the reasons that i applied for this program!

1) Get back to getting involved with community service- My last year of high school was the first time i had really gotten the chance to be a part of something long term that actually made a difference, i joined a club called Divide Action Club, it was a brand new club and i decided to take a chance to do something that i hadn't gotten to do but had always wanted to. throughout that year me and about 10 othermembers that made up the club did many projects to bring awareness about underage alcohol and drug use, our first project that we did required making 60 homemade christmas cards and hand delivering each one to memebers of a senior care center, and our last project was a 5k walk for MADD (Mother's Against Drunk Driving) in the pouring rain. In all those months I grew close to the Divide Action Crew and all the work that we did, I really had a hard time leaving it and then I came across Americorps NCCC, it was like my community service in Divide Action club and the couple of times I had worked while on the Watershed Education Summit, but at a larger level.

2) Independence from my family- Don't get me wrong, I love each and every one of my family members, but i haven't really had any experiences where i was able to figure things out for myself and find out what things worked for me.

3) Finding who I want to be- Time to face it, I've always tried to figure out what kind of career I wanted for myself, each time dropping one idea and moving on to the next, and finally i've just accepted the fact that i have absolutely no idea what I want to be, i know i want to do something that helps people in some way I'm just not sure what that is yet, I'm hoping that experience will help me decide.

4) DO something with my life- Most of the people I know are heading out to college this fall, I was almost on that path until i just had no idea what i wanted to do, and i know people say that i should just take general ed courses so I can get that part over with, but i just want something more than going to school and working some part time job just to have a means to end, and still have absolutely NO idea what I want to do, when I feel that I could be doing something that benefits others, rather than having it be all about me.

5) Travel- I've lived in the sacramento area my whole life, i once traveled to oklahoma and texas for two weeks and i once drove though oregon, but i know there's so much more to see out there. If i get selected into the Americorps NCCC, I want to be able to see as much as possible, whether that be in Iowa or Maryland (the two winter cycle campuses that will be opened for winter 2012)

6) Meet a TON of new people- I lived in a small town for my middle school and high school years, I had my small circle of friends, but I always wished i could meet new people on a constant basis. My school size was only about 500 kids though and there were only 99 kids in my graduating class, needless to say, there wasn't really room to make new friends, and the person you were freshmen year, was pretty much the person everyone saw you as come your senior year. Whcih sucked because freshmen year i was so shy and insecure but by the time my junior year came around I had so many major changes in my life that i completely broke that shell. But in a small school, it's kind of hard to show you have changed. Now that I'm out of high school, I look foward to being the person I truly am on the inside and outside, I applied to Americorps NCCC hoping to meet people who shared my common interest of helping people, and also hoping to meet so many people different from myself that i could learn from and befriend.

7) Work hard and accomplish something- I want to be in this program because I WANT to work hard, I want to be able to accomplish a project for the sake of accomplishing a project because I WANT to, not because of a means to an end or because it's just what i'm told to do it, I want to accomplish something, while working hard at it and make a difference in someone's life.

8) A once in a lifetime experience- I hope that if I get selected into the Americorps, this will be one of "those" experiences, the kind that you never forget, the kind that are filled with stories that I can share for years to come. I can only hope that if I do get selected, that I can bring as much to it, as I know it will give to me.

So there you have it, 8 reasons why I applied to a program that requires me to be away from home for ten months with a team of about 9 others. I can only hope that I will get selected, but I must wait a little longer. As they say, "Patience is virtue." and I'm glad that I'm good at being patient (most of the time haha)
So until I hear anything more, ta-ta for now!
<3 Heather G